DfT appoints new deputy traffic commissioners

The Department for Transport (DfT) has appointed five new deputy traffic commissioners.

Mair Williams, Kate Grimley Evans, and Rakesh Sharma will be based in Cambridge while performing their role. 

Tehniat Watson and Giles Pengelly will be based in Eastbourne and Birmingham, respectively.

• Ms Williams has a background in criminal law, dispute resolution and investigations.
• Ms Grimley Evans qualified as a solicitor in 2004 and sits as a specialist member of the First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights) and on the Advisory Council on the National Records and Archives.
• Mr Sharma is a Solicitor-Advocate with a background in crime, military and professional discipline. He currently sits as an independent member of the Parole Board for England and Wales.
• Ms Watson is a Solicitor Advocate experienced in public law, child protection and adoption and sits in sports and healthcare regulation.
• Mr Pengelly has a background in criminal law.

The Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain serve as independent regulators for the goods vehicle and public service vehicle industries and their professional drivers.

They act as a 'non-departmental tribunal and licensing authority' which is sponsored by the DfT, and they aim to promote 'safe, fair, efficient and reliable' passenger and goods transport through regulating the commercial vehicle industry.

The DfT said that ‘the traffic commissioners for Great Britain believe these appointments will strengthen the team of part-time commissioners, providing them with invaluable support’.

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